


Living in a material world

by Lunannex



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Honestly these kids are chaotic dumbasses, Idiots in Love, Just kids being kids, Michelle Jones is a Little Shit, Ned’s Birthday, Peter Parker is a Mess, Precious Peter Parker, Shopping, Teenage Shenanigans, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-14
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2021-01-27 04:50:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21386383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunannex/pseuds/Lunannex
Summary: “How about this one?” Peter handed Michelle yet another one of the polaroids. The picture was one of MJ, Ned and himself holding a trophy they had won on regionals for Academic Decathlon just a few months ago.“No, your eyes are closed.”“It’s cute, though.”“Peter, your eyes are closed. You look like an idiot.” Michelle enunciated each word slowly, leaving no room for argument.“Ugh, fine." He groaned, grabbing the picture from her with a pout. “This one?” The picture was almost an identical copy of the previous one, only this time both of their eyes were closed. Michelle arched an eyebrow as if to say ‘really?, causing Peter to clear his throat. “Right…”———Aka, Peter and MJ go shopping for Ned’s birthday
Relationships: May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds, Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 103





	Living in a material world

**Author's Note:**

> I was rewatching Stranger Things the other day (specifically the shopping montage with Max and Eleven, if that wasn’t already obvious by the title) and just thought “Hey this would make a cute Spideychelle fic”, so here we are.

“How about this one?” Peter handed Michelle yet another one of the polaroids. The picture was one of MJ, Ned and himself holding a trophy they had won on regionals for Academic Decathlon just a few months ago.

“No, your eyes are closed.”

“It’s cute, though.”

“Peter, your eyes are closed. You look like an idiot.” Michelle enunciated each word slowly, leaving no room for argument.

“Ugh, _fine_." He groaned, grabbing the picture from her with a pout. “This one?” The picture was almost an identical copy of the previous one, only this time _both_ of their eyes were closed. Michelle arched an eyebrow as if to say ‘_really_?, causing Peter to clear his throat. “Right…”

“Do you have one with Betty? I bet he’d _love_ that.” Michelle leaned closer to get a better look at the pictures, draping her arm around his shoulders as she did so.

“Oh definitely,” He snickered. “But sadly, no, I don’t.” Peter placed his hand over his chest with a dramatic sigh. “Do you?” He looked at her through the corner of his eye before going back to scrolling through the array of pictures.

“I wouldn’t be asking if I did.” He didn’t have to look at her to know she was rolling her eyes. “Wait, stop.” She held out a hand in front of them, stopping Peter‘s hand mid-air. “That one looks good.” She pointed at the picture with an approving nod.

And Peter had to agree; it was definitely better than most of the previous ones. In it, Peter, Ned and MJ where lying down on Ned's room, making goofy faces at the camera, faces bright and carefree. He still remembered the day it was taken. They were supposed to be studying but, well, you can obviously see how _that_ turned out. It was a nice photo, really, definitely one Peter treasured dearly, but...

“My hair’s a mess, though.” He squinted his eyes and cocked his head slightly to the side. Instinctively, he reached out to brush a hand through his hair, yelping when Michelle slapped his hand away from it. 

"Your hair looks fine. Don't be so picky." She reprimanded. 

"Look who's talking." He muttered, a teasing smirk creeping up his lips.

"Shut up." She flicked his ear softly. “So, are we sticking to this one or what?" Her tone was bored, clearly already tired of this whole thing. 

They'd been sitting on this worn out bench for over five minutes trying to find a picture to give to Ned as a gift, seeing as his birthday was in three days. Which also brought them to the mall they were currently at. Talk about last minute shopping, right? 

Truth be told, he wasn't exactly the biggest fan of shopping, and judging by the glint in her eyes, Michelle wasn't either. But it was a small price to pay for Ned, who'd always go above and beyond for their birthdays, no matter the circumstances. It was always something that never failed to fill Peter with warmth whenever he thought about it, now obviously not being the exception. And it was, admittedly, what had driven them both to do this in the first place. Ned deserved to have a good birthday just as much as they did, and they’d be damned if they didn’t give it to him.

“Yep,” Peter muttered distractedly. He added a quick ‘_love you_’ at the bottom with a black marker, swiftly adding a bonus smiley face to go along with it. “I don’t know why you’re so picky with them though, you looked great in all of them.” He said sincerely, smiling up at her softly as he capped the lid of the marker.

“Dork.” Michelle bumped his shoulder as she stood up, eyes trained firmly in front of her. “I’m not worried about what _I_ look like, I’m worried about _you_. You’re not exactly the most photogenic, you know? God, your yearbook photo’s a _mess_.”

Peter opened his mouth to retort. “Hey-“

“It isn’t like it was something you didn’t already know.” She shrugged. “Anyways, now that _that’s_ thankfully out of the way…” She held out a hand for him to take after he had put everything back into his backpack, pulling him to his feet easily. “...Let us commence our journey.” She grinned at him crookedly. And Peter couldn’t even get a little annoyed at her when she was looking at him like _that_.

He shook his head in silent laughter. “Where to first, Captain Jones?” He asked, brushing his arm against hers as he slung the backpack over his shoulder. 

“No clue.” She reached for his hand with a sigh, linking their fingers together as they walked side by side. “Let’s just walk around until we see something that suits him."

"I wanted to ask him the other day where he bought the hats, but I figured it would, y'know, make things too obvious. And then I thought about asking Mrs. Leeds or maybe even his sister, but, well, I didn't, so-" He was cut off by Michelle tugging on his hand, making him clamp his mouth shut with an audible click.

“Peter," She pointed over to a store on their right, one full of, ironically, just the thing they were looking for, hats. 

"Oh," He huffed out a small, sheepish laugh, letting Michelle drag him into the store. "That was fast." She nodded her agreement but otherwise paid him no mind, gaze locked on the frankly huge display of fedoras. The name of the store? He could honestly care less. As long as there was something they could buy for Ned here, that was all that mattered.

"Jesus, there's a million of them." Michelle muttered under her breath, to which Peter responded with a low hum of agreement.

He wasted no time in skimming through the display in front of them, examining them all carefully from top to bottom. “These are more Ned’s style, but...” He flipped one of the hats he had grabbed around to place it swiftly on his head. “How do I look?” He held his arms out with a lopsided grin. 

“Like a loser,” Michelle took the hat in one swift motion and brushed back a stray curl that had fallen on his forehead, clearing her throat as she did so. “But a cute one.” She added with a murmur, snapping her gaze back to Peter when she felt his eyes on her. “What?”

“You called me cute.” He slowly broke out into a large grin, trying to ignore the rush of familiar warmth that seemed to settled itself deep into his veins. It didn't matter how much time passed, nothing could take away the jittery excitement he felt whenever he was with MJ. 

“I also called you a loser.”

“Hm, yeah, but you call me that every other minute. Calling me _cute_, however…”

“Don't let it get to your head." Michelle patted his back as she walked past him.

"Say it again." He folded his arms on top of a clothing rack, resting his no doubt flushed cheek on top of them. 

"No."

"Please?" 

"_Peter_." Michelle warned with a glare.

"_MJ_." His grin widened, knowing this was a battle he had already won. 

"You're annoying." She sighed heavily, though the slight quirk of her lips gave her away. "Fine, I think you're really cute. _There_, you happy now?" 

"Very,” Peter hummed contentedly, beaming from ear to ear as he pecked her cheek. “Uh- if it’s any consolation, I think you’re cute too.” He pursed his lips in a shy smile, happiness streaking through him like a comet. 

He looked down just in time to catch the light blush on Michelle’s cheeks and the slight bewildered on her face. “Shut up.” She grumbled, giving him a soft half-smile which may or may not have made his heart to a gymnastics flip. 

He cleared his throat abruptly and grabbed another one of the hats in one swift motion, not really looking at it. "Oh hey, this one's- _aaaand_ it costs sixty bucks, okay, nope, nevermind." He laughed nervously, already putting the hat back in its place. 

"I swear it's like these guys have _no_ consideration for poor people." He shoved his hands in his pockets with a dramatic huff.

"They don't. All they care about is money. As long as they have it, fuck everyone else." Michelle stated dryly, seemingly having recovered from her slight haze. "I doubt we'll find anything that's not some overpriced bullshit," As if on cue, she grabbed one of the hats and a tinge of surprise overtook her features, muttering out a soft, “Huh, what do you know?” 

Peter leaned forward, his own eyes widening at the red and green striped fedora. “Just twenty bucks? _Wow_.” He huffed out a quiet, incredulous laugh. “The gods hath blessed us mere mortals on this fine, sunny day…” Peter deepened his voice down a notch, waving his hand around overdramatically. He nearly stumbled over his own feet when Michelle nudged him forward.

“Stop going Shakespear on me and let’s go pay the damn thing already so we can get out of here." She pushed him impatiently towards the counter. 

Peter held his arms up in surrender. "Okay, okay, jeez I-" He stopped himself abruptly, eyes lighting up as he let his gaze drift over to the side. There stood a woman, most likely in her late 20’s, standing beside a small cart. A glass cookie container hung loosely from her hand. "Hold on, I have to go do something.” He strolled over without a second thought, ignoring Michelle’s offended scoff from behind him. 

As he neared the cart, he let his eyes flick all around, feigning confusion. Really, he’d done this more times than he could count, so it wasn’t like it was anything new. May would already roll her eyes fondly at his antics, but otherwise never said anything. 

“Having trouble, kid?”

Peter whirled around to face the lady. “Huh? Oh, sorry, yeah…” He grinned innocently, rubbing the back of his neck. “I can’t find any…" He trailed off, letting his gaze wander to the jar of cookies. “Oh, wow-“ He muttered softly, causing the lady to laugh amusedly.

“Do you want one? Kids get them free.” She leaned over the cart with a small grin.

“Oh- um, can I?” He peaked up at her through his lashes, letting his puppy dog eyes, as May and Tony continuously called them, shine through. He was well aware of Michelle watching him intently from afar, but he couldn’t really bring himself to care. Call him immature but he was _getting that cookie, dammit. _

The lady smiled warmly “Well of course you can, hun, I offered after all, didn’t I?”

“Well in that case…” He trailed off, watching as she filled the plastic bag with, not one, but _three_ cookies. Which- _wow_, if only everyone was that generous. That would make things a lot more easier. 

“There you go, sweetie. Have a nice day!” She handed him the bag, which he gladly took, with a fond glint in her eyes.

"You too! Thank you, miss!" He chirped, flashing her one last overly sweet smile before heading back. 

The moment he was back to Michelle’s side, she took his hand in hers with a sigh. “I’d like to say I’m shocked but I’m really not.” She said, exasperation clear in her tone.

“Would be weird if you were.” Peter shrugged. “Want one?” He asked between bites, offering the small bag out to her. 

"You're ridiculous." Despite her words, she grabbed one of the cookies anyway, biting into it pointedly. 

"Hey, free food’s free food.” 

“At least you’re useful for _something_.” Michelle smirked.

Peter gasps, scandalized. “_MJ!_” 

——

Unlike with the hats, they didn’t find their next stop until nearly fifteen minutes later. Thinking about it now, they _probably_ should’ve planned things out beforehand. But, well, it was too late for that now. So thanks to that, they just kept wandering around, maneuvering themselves easily across the crowded mall as quickly as they could, chatting about anything and everything until finding their next target.

Which brought them to where they were now, the Lego store. Well- more like the Star Wars filled area of the Lego store. Did they have the budget for anything there? Probably not. But it was still worth a try either way. 

“How much money do we have left?” Peter asked, looking around the large display of legos with both wonder and trepidation. 

“I got twenty four bucks. You?”

“Uh...twenty one.” Peter muttered. His eyes fell on the Droid Gunship set sitting in the far corner of the shelf, a set Ned would totally flip over having, knowing him. His eyes squinted as he searched around for the price. “And this costs…” His eyes widened, an offended squawk escaping his throat. “Ninety five _bucks_?!! What- How- _What the fuck_?!” He feels like he’s gonna have a heart attack. Just straight up- drop right on the spot and hopefully never wake up. "See, this is _exactly_ why I buy my things at thrift stores!" He shook his arms in front of him in frustration.

“We should just grab it and book it.” Michelle, on the other hand, seemed pretty relaxed about it. Aside for the underlying hysteria in her tone, that is. 

“Stealing’s illegal.” He muttered absentmindedly. Is he going crazy? He feels like he’s going crazy. Or more like he’s short circuiting. His brain feels fuzzy. Maybe from an oncoming heart attack. Hopefully.

“Says who?”

“Uh, the _law_?” 

“Oh, well, good thing we don’t care about that, right?”

“Let’s just find something cheaper.” Peter heaved a sigh, dropping his arms to the side. “You think Ned would like a homemade card? Or just, like, a cupcake or something?”

“He’d probably be happy with whatever we end up getting him.” Michelle snickered, grabbing the lego set and examining it closely. And- yeah, she was probably right, Ned was nothing if not humble. “Do you have a credit card or something by any chance?” She asked. 

“No? I mean- there is this one Mister Stark gave me for emergencies, but…” He fiddled with the sleeve of his hoodie, unconsciously placing a hand over of his jean pocket. 

“Use it then.” 

“Did you even _hear_ me? For _emergencies_!” Peter wasn’t exactly comfortable with the idea of using other people’s money, it just didn’t sit very right with him. Asking _May_ for money made him squirmy enough as it was - which may or may not play part to the little amount of money he had on himself now-, and even if this person in particular _did_ happen to be a billionaire, it still didn’t cause him any less discomfort. He refrained himself from asking Tony for money as much as possible, but still somehow ended up getting money thrown his way every couple of weeks. He called it ‘perks of the internship’ and Peter knew better than to question him by now. 

He knew in the back of his mind that Tony wouldn’t even bat an eye at Peter using the credit card that he himself had given him. If anything, he’d probably be _thrilled_. Which made his discomfort all the more irrational the more he thought about it.

“Peter, this _is_ an emergency!” Michelle gestured around them frustratedly.

“Didn't we agree on gifts below fifty bucks?" He inquired weakly. 

“That credit card is the only thing preventing me from committing a felony." Michelle   
pointed to his pocket with a low, slightly manic laugh. "Besides, why are you carrying it around if you're not gonna use it?" She arched an eyebrow, very clearly confused. And, really, Peter didn’t know how to answer that himself.

“...Fine.” He gave in, fishing into his pocket until he pulled out the slightly crumpled card, handing it to his girlfriend with a sigh. 

“Took you long enough.” Michelle rolled her eyes. "Honestly, don't worry about it. Stark adores you, it’ll be fine.” She ruffled his hair and flashed him a comforting smile, already making her way to the register.

_For Ned_, he thought.

"You owe me _so much_ for this…" He grumbled in mock annoyance, even if he was smiling a little himself.

———

If Peter was being honest, gift shopping hadn’t been as boring as he had originally thought it was gonna be. Maybe it was because Michelle was with him, but he actually found himself enjoying it, strangely enough. Sure, he almost went into cardiac arrest a little too many times for his liking, but it was fine. And, not to toot their own horn, but their gift was awesome. Between the picture, the hat and the lego set? Peter was almost a hundred percent confident hat Ned would love it. 

"I’m _pretty_ sure that's all, right?" He asked Michelle once they were nearing the escalator to the first floor.

Michelle hummed. "Yeah, I think we did enough shopping for one day." But he could already tell by her light tone that she enjoyed this just as much as he did. 

“Awesome.” Peter threw his arms over his head, stretching slightly. “You know what we deserve?” He grinned slowly.

“Ice cream.” They said in unison, laughing to themselves a little. 

“Mint chocolate chip?” Michelle gave him a knowing look, clearly already knowing the answer.

“You know me so well.” He sighed blissfully. "I'm pretty sure there was an ice cream parlor just like two minutes from here…" He furrowed his eyebrows before his eyes lit up, an idea popping into his head. "Race you there?" He turned to her excitedly. 

Michelle scoffed incredulously. "Peter, we're in public." 

"I thought you said you didn't care about the law." He teased. "Winner gets the last cookie..." He sing-songed, watching with a gleeful grin as her frown morphed into a competitive smirk.

"Oh you are _so on_, Parker."

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t know what it is about me and polaroids/photographs (seeing as my previous fic was centered around them). They just somehow ended up being included here accidentally. Honestly, I’m not very happy with this but, well, I spent way too much time on it not to post it.
> 
> Hope you liked this!👋✨


End file.
